County engineer recommends against vacation; Sheridan County denies petition to vacate portion of 14th Street

The Sheridan County Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 7 appointed County Engineer Ken Mueller to serve as viewer for a petition to vacate multiple road segments and later adopted Mueller's viewer's report recommending denial of a petition to vacate a portion of 14th Street between blocks 39 and 40 in Downers' Addition.

Mueller told the board the key concerns were utility connectivity and safety: the city of Sheridan has a dead-end waterline on Yankee and also owns adjacent streets, and Municipal Utilities (MDU) has a high-voltage three-phase power line running in the 14th Street corridor. "Basically, my recommendation is this probably ought not to be considered to vacate," Mueller said, explaining that vacating the right-of-way could eliminate future utility connections and impede necessary service access.

A commissioner moved to adopt the viewer's recommendation to deny the vacation petition; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board recorded that no further action would be taken on the petition.